November 19, 2007

Paulose Resigns

Rachel Paulose, the embattled U.S. attorney for Minnesota, will be
leaving the post to take a position at the Justice Department in
Washington, according to a Bush administration official and a
congressional aide.

According to a news release sent by the
department of justice, Paulose has accepted a position as Counselor to
the Assistant Attorney General for Legal Policy at the Department of
Justice in Washington, D.C. Ms. Paulose will resign from her current
position and assume her new role effective in early January 2008.

But why in god's name are we keeping her on the taxpayer's dime?

I can only imagine that her claims that she's being targeted because she's a Federalist Society member would make her hard for someone to fire...

The McCarthyite hysteria that permits the anonymous smearing of any
public servant who is now, or ever may have been, a member of the
Federalist Society; a person of faith; and/or a conservative
(especially a young, conservative woman of color) is truly a disservice
to our country.

Comments

Along with her claims that she's being targeted because she's female, minority, and a few other things? Weren't all of those the reasons given for hiring her and putting her there (except for the Federalist Society membership, that is)?

Well, I guess you have seen this then. I just love this part, "The McCarthyite hysteria that permits the anonymous smearing of any public servant who is now, or ever may have been, a member of the Federalist Society...". Who's anonymous? We are right here, which makes it a hell of a lot easier for you to find me, discuss things with me etc. than if you had my rather common sounding name, of which there must be hundreds of thousands of similarly named individuals out there. The Papoose has a screw loose....

I think the deal had already been agreed to, or at a minimum the decision made in DC, to take this action. Mukasey made a pretty clear comment when he said he "was going to have to take a look at the Minnesota situation" or something to that effect.

As unpleasant as it may be to have Ms. Paulose continue to draw a federal paycheque, I think that it would be money very well spent to buy out all the Bushbots that have been appointed to the civil service the last 7 years, and in particular, at the DOJ. Much cheaper than undoing all the damage they could continue to inflict on the world if they were to get civil service tenure.

One more time! In May I wrote this post on Lukery's blog about Gonzales and Rachel, complaining about a campaign of terror they were conducting which came to be known as the "Innocent Images National Initiative." It caused a lot of hard feelings. And I'm not so smart, I had a factual inaccuracy about Rachel, which I was willing to correct.

I could be wrong, but I strongly suspect Rachel needs a little cover from the angry friends and families of people who committed suicide after their convictions under IINI (and who I guess said, "hey DoJ, WTF?"). Nobody wants to talk about that, but I don't mind.

Ishmael: and it will presumably be easier for the next president to fire her from main DOJ, where her job probably will consist of keeping her face out of the papers for the next 13 months, than it would be to fire her from a job where she could make an argument that she's actually responsible for, you know, upholding the law and stuff.

Maybe now that Rachael's becoming a flashpoint, they just want to bury her somewhere obscure where they can keep an eye on her. Or... maybe they have some fresh "talent" they want to install in her Minnesota slot.

Tekel - agreed, it would be easier to can her from an HQ job - if Rachel P were still a USA, I can see the headlines now, filled with Republican "outrage" that the Democratic President "dared" to interfere with USA positions by firing incumbents! :) I still remember how much heat Hillary took for the White House Travel Office staffing - what would happen if she cleared out the Bushbots from the civil service relying on just cause? Better to give the wingnuts some more welfare, I think they would take surprisingly little to leave rather than, you know, work or something! :)

Tekel and Ishmael - You may be right, but I don't know that your read is necessarily correct. US Attorneys are quite easy to dispense with by an incoming administration, and they commonly are. We have just spent a year of the Bush Administration and their conservative/GOP apologists (the very same people, and in fact the only people, who might possibly support Rachael Screwloose) beat into our heads that USAs can and should be fired at any time for any reason. On the other hand, depending on the nature of the "counselor's" position (that is a little vague) she is being given at DOJ Main, it is possible that she will actually be in a "career position" that is much harder to remove her from than a political appointment USA position.

I would also point out that I will bet Norm Coleman has been absolutely screaming for them to do something like this and get Paulose out of Dodge well before the election campaign shifts into high gear. Paulose remaining as Minnesota USA was an albatross around Coleman's neck.

The fact that she's taking a phony "counselor" position back at headquarters rather than landing a partnership with a high-powered law firm or some other position that would at least double her salary is probably an indication that nobody wants to hire her and TPTB don't have the heart to just cast her out on the unemployment line.

Usually when a political appointee is removed or transferred involuntarily from a high-profile position to some other lower-profile position with few actual duties it is an indication that they are trying to get the person to leave altogether, but the individual is either too stubborn, too dense, or incapable of finding outside employment.

Rachel Paulose- fired/resigned/reassigned back to D.C. just in time to share the good tidings w/her office, who from all accounts can't stomach her managerial style a second more.

Lest we forget (since they can't) the fired USAs, whose purge by the WH started this cascade, received they're notices via phone call from messenger Mike Battle just in time to share the news w/their offices & families last Pearl Harbor Day 12/7/06.

We aren't keeping her on the taxpayer's dime. Mike Mukasey who is going to continue the same hapless policies of Gonzales as a Bush flunkie is. The fact Mukasey didn't fire her immediately shows what a weak, snivling, Bush lickass he is.

Paulose had no significant experience as an attorney litigating at DOJ, and she was there in the first place like the twits Sampson, Goodling and a bus load of others to make sure DOJ functioned as a hack political arm of Bushariff, Roveshariff, Cheneychariff, and Addingtonchariff.

I think it's worth highlighting her claims of prejudice [nothing to say about her "person of color" comment which I doubt that has much to do with anything]. She is a fundamentalist Christian [of the Republican kind], and she is a member of the Federalist Society. She's saying that those things were held against her, that they had something to do with her losing her job. Frankly, she's got it backwards. They are the reason she had that job in the first place!

Horton is comparing the Palouse rout to the shins and elbow tossing in AL by the spouse of a Republican consultant; she is the US atty in those parts, and trying to utilize a GJ process to halt investigation of the Siegelman matter; see 93 page letter to US AG Mukasey. Horton discusses both MD AL USA Canary and ex USA Palouse there.

Minnesota Public Radio records that when the news hit the USA office, there was a huge celebration. No one sent out for higher order drinks, but coffee mugs got clinked, and smiles all around. Then off to the local drinking establishments. Both Heffelfinger and Lillihaug (Clinton's USA) gave interviews, as did lead partners in a number of law firms.

Apparently what moved things along was the threat that three additional supervisors intended to resign by the end of the month if Paulose was not removed. Three others resigned last spring, remember. There is also word that for the last few months efforts had been made to move her to one of the local leading law firms, but not one would bite. So back to Main Justice she goes, and the hope is she finds a place in the private sector before the Bush mal-administration ends. The only defender she has locally is the St. Paul Chief of Police, who credits her with taking down the Latin Kings and their Meth operation. (St. Paul is much under the influence these days of the hype of having the Republican Convention, and the Chief perhaps gets to budget about 25 million in security money.)

Will they make up songs as they did for the Wreck of the Mary Celeste?

Choppy seas, check!

Adrift and far, far, far from assumed location, check!

All sails set and flapping in every passing gust, check!

Abandoned by all hands, check!

Dismantled bilge pump in pieces on the deck, check-a-roony!

Hmm.... even the divorce from the real world is there, caused by men who confuse the map with the territory and believe their measured charts and their man-made chronometer are more true than the water sloshing into the hold and the wind turning them around.

I would be almost gleeful (pun intended), if it wasn't all so stupid. Hiring competent people for authoritative positions over career staffers should be a no-brainer. You can check for club memberships and secret fraternities after you determine if the minimum qualifications of experience and sound judgment are there. But these fanatical Christians will hire a mechanic or accountant if he goes to the same church, trusting that the jesus-fish on the business card equals skill.

I wonder if the maker of that faulty chronometer had a jesus-fish on his shop-sign?